1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to personal watercraft and boat protection devices, hereinafter simply watercraft protection devices. More particularly, this invention relates to a watercraft protection device for protecting the hull or keel of the watercraft during beaching.
2. Background.
Increased popularity of recreational boating has resulted in increased competition for landing space. Most developed inland lakes and bays include public boat docks or piers extending from their shores and beaches, which can be used by recreational boaters when they want to go ashore. However, competition for these resources has resulted in limited availability. Oftentimes, a desirable beach or shore doesn't have any landing facilities. Additionally, there are a large number of undeveloped lakes that simply do not have any public docks.
Consequently, larger numbers of boaters are resorting to beaching their boats to gain shore access, resulting in abrasion to the hulls of the boats. Most recreational motor and sail boats have hulls of fiberglass construction with a gel coat finish. These hulls are extremely susceptible to damage from beaching and beach mooring. The sand, sediment and rocks typically found on a beach or shoreline act as abrasion agents, especially as wave and wind action move the boat up, down, forward and backward. Additionally, when a boat is beached, it has a tendency to pivot about the contact point with the beach or shore due to wave and wind action on the stern of the boat. In addition to the damage caused to the hull of the boat, this can result in the drive and steering mechanisms coming into contact with the bottom of the body of water or in dislodging the boat from the shore.
Several attempts have been made to remedy these problems, including apron protection type devices, beach mats, strip hull protectors and ramp type devices.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,055,022; 4,815,412; 4,962,719; and 5,357,890 disclose apron-type hull protectors which are attached to the bow of the boat and positioned under the front hull portion to protect the hull from damage when beaching a boat. These patents disclose different flotation, drag and weights, as well as construction methods for positioning the aprons and providing protection.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,803,942; 5,398,631; 5,454,341; and 5,577,455 all teach various landing or beach mats for protecting the front portion of the hull of a boat during beaching. U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,942 includes a pair of elongated support blocks along the length of the mat.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,762,080 and 4,909,172 disclose protective bow strips which are fixed along the keel, at the front portion of the hull, to protect the boat hull during beaching.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,791 discloses a collapsible boat device for protecting the underside of a beached boat. This device includes a pair of hinged plates each supported by a plurality of wedges to hold the plates in a "V" formation to receive the hull of a boat. The device also includes one or more attachment devices, such as ropes, to attach the protection device to the boat to facilitate positioning of the protection device prior to beaching. When not in use, the two plates fold together to permit more compact storage of the device, preferably into a folded size of one foot wide by three feet long by ten inches high. Unfortunately, even the folded size is too large for convenient storage within a boat and the preferred construction results in a device that is too heavy to be handled efficiently. Additionally, the plates present a relatively large surface area to contact the hull of the boat and due to the configuration of the device, sand and the like can easily become lodged between the plates and the hull, resulting in damage to the boat.
None of the solutions of which the inventors are aware adequately solve the problems mentioned. To date, the solutions are ineffective at adequately inhibiting abrasion, securely mooring the boat and/or are suitable for compact storage and easy handling.